Ten On Tuesday

1. Let's see what has happened this week. Well, Zane apparently knows how to ride a bicycle. Zach and him played on Brendan's bike in  the garage for about five minutes Saturday and then in the afternoon he was riding up and down the front porch. I thought it took lots of running beside the bike, but apparently not. Zane was very upset when I told him that he, in fact, was not being safe since he didn't have on his helmet. The look of complete shock that came across his face when he realized that he had become his own worst nightmare, an unsafe boy on a bicycle. He quickly put on the Cars helmet that Grandma had on standby and continued to ride.

2. Rowan has gotten his first two teeth this week, his bottom middle two. They are coming in nicely and broke through pretty much at the same time. He was slightly miserable, and very drooly, from that when he got a little baby cold/cough. Now he is covered with snot and spit all the time, throws up occasionally from the snot running down his throat, doesn't like sleeping, and all and all is struggling a bit. 

3. I think adding to Rowan's sleeping issues is the fact that from day to day my children don't know where they will be sleeping. Thanks to my amazing family we have lots of different sleeping options, which is nice, but less than ideal for a nine month old. Meanwhile, Zane has pretend phone conversations about where he is going to sleep at night, "No I sleep at Aunt Abbey's, or maybe we go to Uncle Able's to night time." Not good. Zane seems to be sleeping the best out of all of us though, which is shocking. I spend most nights that we are away from the farm up with a very crabby, very awake baby boy. 

4. On that same note big thanks need to go out to Abbey, Brent, Able, and Kari for housing and feeding my family and I during our trips to OKC. We come with literally a lot of baggage, even more noise, and make a huge mess while we are there. I'm so ready to have our own place, whatever that might be, so we can come over for visits sans suitcases/bags. We are enjoying getting to see everyone so much, but am not enjoying the hour and fifteen minute drives to and from the farm with my two kids. Sigh...

5. On one of our visits to Aunt Abbey's this week Mom and I took the little kids to the neighborhood pond to feed the ducks and pick up some trash. I particularly loved watching the two little boys sitting in the wagon together. I can see those two having a ton of fun together in the future. They have very different personalities. Everett is a cuddly ball of love, usually very quite, while Rowan is a tiny boy with a bit of a temper, who is often very loud. I adore them both, with my current favorite thing being Everett's gut that he sticks out as he toddles around. Maggie and Zane continue to have a blast together, but they pretty much have the exact some personality, which is slightly frightening. I ask again, where is my calm, timid, rule following, first child???

6. This one is a shout out to Zach's mom. Little Rowan perfected the bear crawl, a la his daddy, this week. Zach purely rocked the bear crawl when he was a baby so I know that Grammie is loving this one. Rowan doesn't do it very often, mostly outside, or when he doesn't have pants on, but it is highly adorable. 

7. We finally got our family pictures and Rowan's nine month pictures done yesterday. It was gorgeous weather and Rowan did wonderfully, being adorable the whole time. His brother, however, had a bit of a hard time realizing that we weren't just playing by random trees, but that we were having photos taken. Our new photographer was amazed at how blue my boy's eyes are and shocked by how much Rowan looks like Zach, pretty much everyone's reactions when they see my kids. Here's hoping we got some good shots.

8. The moment I have been dreading, but knew was inevitable, happened this evening while putting Zane to bed. He got really sad and said, "Mamma I miss our little house, with my blue room, and downstairs." "We go back there soon?" My heart sank and I burst into tears as did he. Dear Lord what have I done. I wish I could tell him that we were getting a new, bigger, and better, house but the reality is, that might not be happening for a long time. He is really going to miss our old house when we are living in some tiny apartment. Sad face 

9. Thanksgiving plans are underway here and I'm so excited to get to be part of the festivities. Abbey is hosting it for the first time since Able will be manning the Savory Spice Shop Kiosk in Penn Square mall Thanksgiving night and black Friday. This will be my first Thanksgiving in Oklahoma in I don't know how long. I always was either working Thanksgiving, the day after, or the weekend after so usually never got to go anywhere. I am not missing Holiday scheduling at the hospital, I can tell you that!

10. Lastly, for everyone gearing up for holiday shopping, or  who need some spice for your Thanksgiving feasts, be sure to check out the Savory Spice Shop's kiosk in Penn Square mall. As of this week it has a new location, across from the Fossil store, on the first floor, of the Macy's wing. If you want to avoid the craziness of the mall the main store is at 44th and Western and has a huge selection of wonderful holiday gift ideas as well. I am sure to be sending out a few gift sets myself soon. 

Adventure In The Woods

When we were growing up one of our stand by activities was playing down by the creek, in "the forest" as we use to call it. It was really in the tall cotton woods that lined the creek bank East of our house. Yes, we played down there for hours, unattended, by a body of water, and somehow we all lived to tell about it. At the time there was an old pick up truck that was half covered with mud. We could get in the through the windows, but we could also climb on top of it and make up all sorts of stories about how it had gotten there. There was a big cotton wood that had fallen down that we walked across, we made forts, played house and Narnia, looked at animal tracks, played in the water, and all sorts of other adventures. Our cue to come back up to the house was when mom or dad would honk the bus horn, then we would make our way back up to the house through the tall grass and by way of the hay bales.

My memories from the woods are some of my fondest childhood memories of my brother, sister, and I all playing together. That's why I was so excited that the weather was nice enough to take Zane down to the creek. Grandma and Zane had gone down and scouted out a good fort location earlier in the day and we made plans for a picnic there when they got back. At lunch time we gathered our picnic supplies, and a hatchet for fort making, then to the creek we went. The grass is shorter than I remember, but there are many more tree branches hitting me in the face, funny how that works out. Once we got there Zane showed us the room that Grandma and him had started making earlier in the day with "pipes" (AKA branches). We quickly ate our lunch then Zach and Zane got busy building a fort against a large fallen tree branch.

 On  the menu, ham and cheese sandwiches, veggies with ranch dip, and oatmeal cookies.

There was lots of exploring, looking for long branches and bark used to to make the walls and the roof of their fort. Zane found a snake skin and a hollow tree, both great finds for our little explorer. He too played house in the different areas marked by fallen branches and trees. The wind here was insane, yet again, today, but in the woods you could hear it, but it wasn't wiping at your face. We were shielded by the trees and eventually by quiet the little fort. This made being outside tolerable for a little while. I can't handle the wind.

Rowan did not enjoy his picnic, throwing up a couple times, but he rallied and eventually enjoyed stomping in the leaves, chewing on sticks, and playing with people on the blanket while the exploring and building took place. I found the hood of the pick up we used to play in. It is now completely covered with dirt, grass and trees growing on top of it now, except one little hole where the hood is peaking out.

The walk back was difficult for Zane, as it always is. By the time you're ready to head to the house you are exhausted, hot, hungry, and thirsty. Turns out Zane might have not enjoyed his lunch either or caught some sort of stomach bug in the woods as he spent the rest of his day with a belly ache. Too many veggies and ranch?? Who knows, but we had a wonderful time in the woods and I can't wait to make more memories there with my boys.

Very proud of his little house.

Ten On Tuesday

1. Things are going well here at the farm. The weather was nicer this past week which definitely helps, since there are tons of things to do outside. First up for fun farm activities, hay bales!!! This is by far Zane's favorite activity at the farm and would probably do it all day if he could. However, it is difficult to do with Rowan and only one adult. Rowan did take his first trip to the hay bales this weekend while Daddy was home. Being eight months old, I'm not sure how he felt about it, but Zane loved it. Rowan still has yet to master riding in a wagon. He thinks he should either be able to stand up in the wagon or lay on his stomach, neither are ideal. Here are the highlights of hay bale jumping this week.

 Brothers on the bales

 Kinda unsure about the whole thing

 This is Zane facing his fears, jumping back over the hole that he had previous fallen into last week. He does have a healthy fear of the gap between the bales now. Below is Zach and Zane after they took their shirts off. Zach is obviously helping with the fear facing.

 Rowan was giving Zane pats in the wagon on the way back to the house after Zane sustained another head injury of some sort on the rock pile by the creek.

2. Rowan's other first this weekend was playing in the leaves. Zane and I raked up a huge pile just for the occasion. Again, Rowan wasn't sure why I had set him in a pile of leaves, and didn't really find it entertaining. His brother throwing leaves on him probably didn't help. Zane had a blast though, of course.

 The picture above pretty much sums up the experience. 

3. Though for the most part the weather has been pretty warm, the mornings are still very chilly and last night a cold front came through. I broke down and bought Rowan an actual winter coat, size 3-6 months, which swallows him up, but I think should keep him nice and warm. Here is in his big boy coat with Grandma during porch time.

4. Porch time also includes lots of tricycle riding and for Rowan he now gets to play in the Cozy Coup since Zane has moved onto bigger and better things. Zane has mastered the tricycle, which I'm sure he could have done a long time ago, but we didn't have anywhere for him to ride it in STL so we never got him one. He rides up and down the porch on the Red Ryder tricycle and the Masey Ferguson metal tractor. Nothing like porch time in the morning.

I quickly found out that Rowan can open the door, so figured out how to lock that just in time to find out he can climb over the door and try to dive head first onto the concrete. So car time requires very close supervision. 

5. I should probably note that during this particular porch time Zane fell off the edge of the porch while trying to chase the cats. There have been lots of injuries during our short time on the farm. But we are all hanging in there.

6. Zane also thoroughly enjoys music time at Grandma's because she has lots and lots of things that make all kinds of different noises, they can make me go a little batty at times, but this week I found my favorite type of music activity, Native American music time. This is much more tolerable than say the penny whistle and recorders which I might have hidden?? Zane and Rowan channeled their Native American roots and danced to all sorts of Native American songs, playing mom's real life Indian instruments. So much fun!

Here are the natives, looking very festive in the Buzz Lightyear Jammies.

7. We were suppose to getting pictures taken tomorrow, family and Rowan's nine month pictures as well. However it is freezing cold here currently so that has been put off a week. This gives me time to get to Oklahoma City and try to find the boys some clothes. I ask again why do boys get two shelves of clothing while girls get two sections. I'm just looking for a blue or red polo shirt with some adorable overalls, how hard can it be people. 

8. Rowan is crawling around this big house like crazy and very quickly. He loves chasing after his brother or crawling over to check on him when he is crying, both of which usually results in Zane hurting Rowan somehow. Sometimes it's intentional (i.e. biting him on the stomach) and sometimes the line between hug and squeezing to death is very thin. Watching them try to play together is adorable, but so far it hasn't ended well so Zane has strict instructions NEVER to touch his brother, which he never follows. 

9. Rowan has also started waving "Hi" sometimes and giving kissing on demand, both terribly adorable. This is his adorable eating face, done usually when you have stopped paying attention to him for a few seconds, he tilts his head to one side, and gives you the cutest, most ornery grin imaginable. 

 This silly boy loves to eat and really wants/needs to feed himself, because he is such a big boy!

This is his screaming with pure joy face, if you couldn't tell. 

10. That's about all the news from us. Zach's job is still going slow, learning all the ropes and lots of new things. He is the youngest Electrical Engineer by probably thirty years, but I think he is use to that by now. Still no bites on the house, yes the stress level remains extremely high on that front. I'm making spice ornaments for the spice shop and going to start Holiday baking for them soon as well, not going to help the weight problem, but oh well. Just hanging out in the in between place currently. 

Grandpa Blakley's Cowboy Hat

My dad was a real life cowboy. Not someone who dressed up like one, but an actual farmer of cows. Yes, he did attend Oklahoma State University, so was a Cowboy in that since as well. With that being said he rarely, if ever, wore an actual cowboy hat. Cowboy boots, pearl snaps, the cowboy belt buckle, were all part of his daily wardrobe, and he did have a brown felt cowboy hat, but I can only remember him wearing it once. If I remember correctly he bought it on our way to Kansas City when Able and I were going to watch the ill-fated Sooners in the Big Twelve Championship against Kansas State. He wore it on that trip then the iconic, brown, felt cowboy hat was deemed "too nice," like so many other things in dad's life, for daily use (i.e. his "fancy cowboy boots"). He was saving it for later, for something special. From then on the hat has lived on top of the coat rack. Able sometimes rocks and now his Grandsons are loving it!!! An actual real life cowboy's hat.

 Riding old Peanut Butter.

 This boy loves all things cowboy currently. I so wish dad was hear to take him out "cowboying." We did go look at the cows the other day and practiced our cattle calling.

Little Rowan Danny in his Grandpa's cowboy hat!

 Love it!

Ten On Tuesday

1. The boys and I have set up shop at the farm. We had a weekend of fun with Mom, Zach, Able, and Kari, which meant yesterday was our first day here by ourselves. I'm not sure if it was the time change or just the slower pace of farm life, but yesterday was the longest day ever!!!! We did all the stand by farm things by noon. We swang, played with and fed the cats, let out the chicken (yes there is only one currently), gathered leaves and made a leaf collage, played in the sand, pretend cooked with dirt and old spices, went to the bridge ect. ect. We ate dinner by four, did multiple art projects, played with play dough, Mr. Potato heads and then it was five o'clock. This doesn't bode well for my stay at home mom time at the farm. I miss quick trips to the park, the store, the zoo, and all our other day trips we had at our disposable in St. Louis. I just can't bring myself to drive thirty minutes to get to a park and then thirty minutes back with a baby who hates the car!

 Zane feeding the cats in the morning.

 Here is Ro on the horse swing. He really hasn't mastered this one, he is more of a blue swing sort of guy currently.

 Rowan's new friend, Mr. Kitty (possibly named James??)

Rowan is spending a lot of time eating leaves here, but seems to be having a good time.

2. Other issues at the farm include the fact that Sunday night, while here alone, between the two boys I was up at 11pm, 12:30, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, then up for the day at 6AM. This could have led to the terribly long day Monday as well. I'm going to start sleeping in Zane's room so I don't hear every little peep out of Rowan, who turns out to be a very noisy sleeper, snoring, farting, whining, coughing, and all sorts of other cooes that wake me up all night long. We shall see how that works. Hopefully they get use to sleeping here soon.

3. Since I missed last weeks Ten on Tuesday I never posted about the end of my career at SLCH. Friday, Oct. 25th, was my last day there and it was a very anticlimactic end, as I thought it probably would be. Nothing exciting happened on my last day. I had a terrible sad cancer kiddo, a seizure baby, same old same old. I gave report, gave a few hugs, clocked out, and closed that chapter. I miss all the people, who made my job bearable, but don't miss the work, and all the sadness that came with it. It feels strange not being connected to there anymore, seems like everyday I have some sort of SLCH apparel, cup, or bag with me. I think it will be more real once I have moved on to the next job, whatever that might be.

4. My last Sunday in STL the girls from work had a little going away dinner for me, which was tons of fun, with lots of laughs, and a few teary hugs good bye at the end. These girls mean the world to me and have been my family, my dear friends, my babysitters, my therapists, and wonderful co-workers for the past five years, and my heart breaks at the thought of not seeing them very often. I vowed to visit, as did they, so hopefully we will be seeing each other soon. Love you and miss you guys!! Thanks for giving me such a wonderful send off!

 The whole crew

 Brigid, me, Allie, Michelle, and little Ruthie

Maggie and I being drinking some celebratory berry mojitos, very seriously.

5. Let's see what else is happening. Before we left St. Louis Rowan started doing this....

Nothing like the first time you walk in to get your little baby from nap time to find him standing up and oh so proud of himself!!! He couldn't stop squealing with glee and laughing hysterically! He is all together too big!

6. Also, before we left St. Louis Zane spent a lot of time checking out our neighborhoods amazing Halloween decorations. There were multiple big "scary cats," a pirate skeleton, a huge pumpkin man, "shaky trees" with ghosts (which were never up the last few days when we were trying to see them), lots of regular ghosts, bones, and tombstones galore. Zane and I, or Zane and mom, took a lot of walks the last few days so he could visit everything before we left. Mom took the camera on one of the last walks to capture his love of the Halloween decorations in our old neighborhood.

 This scary cat was only a few doors down, so we visited it quite often.

Yes he is in his pajama's, cowboy hat, and cowboy boots, what matters??

7. Today mom, the boys, and I went to visit Great Grandpa Dotter, after our original plans didn't quite work out. Strangely enough I don't think Zane had ever been to his house, as Grandpa has been coming to mom's house for major celebrations the past few years and I was rarely in the state. In turn I hadn't been there for years either and it was amazing how time stands still there. Everything is exactly the same as it was four years ago and 15 year ago. I love it and I think Zane had a pretty great time as well. My favorite part was showing Zane the big dragon that is painted on the wall upstairs. He first had to master the slightly scary orange stairs (hand on the wall every buddy, you know the drill), then walked into the exact play area that was there when I was little. These are terrible pictures, but for the four people reading this who have been to my Grandparent's house you will find them entertaining.

 This is Zane investigating a rotary phone and a record player, neither of which he had seen before.

Not sure why my Uncles painted a huge dragon on the wall, but it's highly entertaining. 

8. Monday, while grasping at straws for things to do with Zane, we discovered Grandma's big bath tube, AKA her indoor swimming pool for the bored. Zane swam solo yesterday, while Rowan napped, but this afternoon Rowan joined in the fun, resulting in highly adorable brother bath pictures, and lots fun times for these two boys.

 The tiniest bottom EVER. I cannot handle the cuteness.

9. Tonight we also got to do my favorite farm activity sitting on the front porch, with a blanket, during a thunderstorm. It is so cozy and the porch is huge so you don't get wet at all, and Zane loved seeing the lightening then waiting to hear the thunder. Good times.

10. I think tomorrow we will head back down to OKC to try to have some contact with civilization again. Zane and Maggie are best of friends and Zane could use some playtime with someone other than Mom or I. I'm hoping these two little boys become best buds, not yet..... soon!